This is volume one in the Orange Series from MMP. The Gloster Gauntlet was the last open-cockpit fighter of the RAF entering into service in February 1935. In addition to the RAF, it saw service in the Commonwealth with the South African Air Force, Southern Rhodesian Air Force, and Royal Australian Air Force. Foreign users were Denmark and Finland.

The book is broken down into 10 main segments beginning with an Introduction and Development and Production chapters. The original Gauntlet design with the 450hp Bristol Mercury IIA engine but due to this engine’s unreliability the Gauntlet lost out top Bristol’s own design, the Bulldog. Five years later after steady design improvements and multiple engine installations the Gauntlet now being 40MPH faster than the Bulldog won a production contract.

The Gauntlet served the RAF well for about 3 years before in 1938 being removed from frontline service. 616 Squadron still had Gauntlets at the outbreak of WWII!

Illiad Design has recently released an aftermarket decal set covering Schlacht Bf-109Es. The Schlacht units were ground-attack units. I believe their mission was what is now known as “close air support”.

This decal sheet covers a total of 6 aircrafts and you are provided with enough markings as to be able to model all of them and covering all main fronts during 1941/42: Russia, North Africa and the English Channel. Well done Illiad Design!

The airframes cover a transitional period on the standard camouflages during 1941/42. This means some of them are 71/02 over 65 while others are 74/75 over 76. Yellow noses and fuselage bands and rudders add a spot of color to the camouflages. To top it one of the camouflages is in a North Africa scheme of 79 over 76, with a replacement wing in 71/02 over 65. Amazing choices!

IPMS/USA thanks Ross and his Team at SAC for supporting the IPMS USA reviewer corps with one more of many monthly releases, with extremely useful and well-thought out landing gear additions for the modeling crowd out here in the modeling world. And thanks to IPMS leadership for sending it for review.

This review is for the SAC landing gear released for the 1/48 2016 Eduard release series ME-109F and G models. As such, it covers the majority of ‘109s’ available in the current Eduard catalog.

I bought several of these SAC sets when they came out, because I found the kit gear did not like handling on the shelf. The tail wheel assembly was the major culprit, and this set fixes the issue by being robust and able to “give” without snapping. It has the added benefit of being able to be carefully bent back into position if tagged by the cat, dog, angry wife, or husband, etc.